Behler leads Nazareth to semifinals

Blue Eagles to face Northwestern, Freedom and Solehi to meet today.

July 13, 2013|By Michael Blouse, Special to The Morning Call

Kassie Behler played a supporting role for the Nazareth girls basketball team during her freshman and sophomore seasons. She was a starter and key contributor last winter, but she deferred to a strong class of seniors that carried the Blue Eagles to Lehigh Valley Conference and District 11 Class 4A titles.

This winter, coach Rich Bickert will be counting on Behler, a rising junior, to play a leading role for what will be a young Nazareth team.

She played like a leader on Saturday, sparking Nazareth to a 36-24 victory over Northampton and into the winners bracket semifinals at the Stellar Construction Catch A Rising Star girls basketball tournament.

Bickert's Blue Eagles will play Northwestern in one of today's 10 a.m. winners bracket games at Cedar Beach. Freedom and Southern Lehigh will meet in the other.

The winners bracket final is set for noon with the championship game of the double-elimination tournament to be played later in the day.

Behler scored all eight of her points against Northampton in the first 20 minutes as Nazareth opened a 29-13 halftime lead. She scored on three driving layups — one off a steal — and drilled a 15-foot jumper. Behler also made several passes that led directly to points.

"This year we only have two seniors and just one with a lot of playing time," she said. "I know I'm being counted on more and I look forward to the added responsibility."

Last season, Behler, a 5-foot-7 guard, averaged 5.6 points per game and was mostly a distributor.

"Kassie's got all kinds of potential," Bickert said. "She's a great passer and really rebounds the ball well. And I expect her to score a little more this season, too. She's also a real leader on and off the court."

Nazareth's other returning starter, 6-foot senior Chelsea Gary, was at an AAU tournament Saturday but is expected to be with the team for the tournament's final day.

Bickert said he has four players on his varsity roster who earned significant playing time last winter.

"We're about where we expected at this point. We brought 14 or 15 girls here today and we're trying to get them all in the games," he said. "We know what to expect from the four who played last season but we're looking for two, three or four others to be in the mix. Our JV team only lost one game last year, so there is some talent."

The most exciting of Saturday's winners bracket games was the Freedom-Parkland contest.

With the score tied at 22, Parkland's Erica Bross missed a contested 16-foot runner with three seconds remaining in regulation and the game went into overtime.

Ashley Husser's free-throw with 1:08 left in the extra session put Freedom ahead 25-24 and the Patriots survived when Olivia Brown of Parkland missed a pair of free throws with one second remaining.

Brenna Dosedlo led Freedom, which went 8-14 last season, with 11 points. Brown paced Parkland with eight.

"This is a great program win, summer or not," Patriots coach Ron Garza said. "We played Parkland twice last year and the first time we hung tough but the second time we were blown out. We're looking to take that next step this season."